November 2nd 2005 – The Seacoast Media Group has selected Goss International to supply integrated press and inserting systems for a new 70,000-square-foot production and office facility that is being built in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The Seacoast Media Group produces The Portsmouth Herald, The Hampton Union, The Exeter News-Letter, The Rockingham News and The Dover Community News in New Hampshire as well as The York County Coast Star and The York Weekly in Maine and the web site Seacoastonline.com. The company also manages distribution of the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, the Boston Globe, USA Today, New York Times, Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, and Greek National Herald in the coastal New Hampshire and southern Maine area.
The order includes the first-ever Goss Magnum two-around press in the United States with 32 printing couples as well as a Goss NP632 inserting system with 22 hoppers. The Seacoast Media Group will use the systems to produce the newspapers it distributes in southern New Hampshire and Maine, along with several other products and commercial print publications.
This also represents the first combined newspaper press and postpress system sale for Goss since its acquisition of Heidelberg Web Systems. Installation will begin in August of 2006.
Paul Briand, Seacoast’s Director of Operations, said the need for expanded color, paging and sectioning capacity on the press and through the mailroom, and overall space is driving the expansion project at the Seacoast Media Group.
“We’ve outgrown our current press and we’ve outgrown our current inserter, plus we’ve outgrown our two buildings in Portsmouth and Stratham,” said Briand. “The one-two punch of a fully integrated press and postpress installation from Goss will significantly improve our ability to serve our readers and our advertisers."
Seacoast Media Group chose the Goss Magnum 2x2 press after extensive due diligence, aided by the national production staff at Dow Jones.
"The versatility of the Magnum was important to us, as was the highly-proven record of both the Magnum and the NP630 technology platforms for productivity and reliability," said Briand. "We also see major integration advantages in being able to purchase press and postpress systems from one vendor that is located just up the highway from our new plant."
Goss has production facilities in Dover and Durham, New Hampshire, about 10 miles from the Seacoast Media Group Portsmouth facility.
"The Seacoast Media Group, Ottaway Newspapers and Dow Jones teams have a well defined investment plan built around the requirements of their customers," according to Bob Brown, Goss International CEO. "We are pleased at their confidence in our technology and our ability to execute."
The new Goss Magnum press at the Seacoast Media Group will feature three four-high towers, two two-high towers and a Goss Universal 2:3:3 jaw folder with two formers. The configuration will print up to 48 broadsheet pages with 24 full-color pages and 16 spot-color pages in collect production. Plans also allow for the future addition of a fifth and sixth tower, plus a second folder.
The Goss NP632 inserter will cycle at up to 25,000 papers per hour and will be equipped for zoned inserting with Goss Omnicon controls. Goss will also supply Goss NP125 Inserter gripper conveyors to feed products from the inserter to two stacker tie lines.
Goss launched the Magnum two-around press earlier this year, extending technology found in its Magnum one-around press as well as other Goss single- and double-width presses. The new model prints at up to 75,000 copies per hour, depending on configuration, and is designed for new press installations as well as tower additions for Urbanite and Tribune presses.